5 Ways to Tackle the Most Dreaded Item on Your To-do List

To_Do_List
Is there a better feeling than crossing something off your To-do list? Big or small, completing any assignment will give you a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction, which, in turn will motivate you to keep plowing through the list. I actually know someone whose first item on any to-do list is “make list” so that she can scratch it off immediately. Yes, I’m embarrassed for her.

Some tasks, unfortunately, are not completed or deleted that easily.  You know, those pain-in-the-neck projects that you dread the most – the ones that never seem to get done. We all have a task or two that’s taken up permanent residence on our To-do list. It’s like the party guest who just won’t leave, who you’d hide in the coat closet to avoid talking to. Peek out from behind the parkas, and sure enough, he’s still there, double dipping his chips and boring everyone to tears.

When something on your To-do list is bringing the whole party down, it’s time to shake its hand and show it the door! Here are five easy tips to help you tackle that beast, once and for all:

[Read more…]

Recycling – Good for Environment, Good for Business

Recycling
Recycling is one of those initiatives everyone agrees is wants to do, yet few fail to follow through. They believe it takes too much effort and, in some cases, costs more than it is worth to do. This is a wrong assumption. While no one can argue about the benefits of recycling to the environment, its benefits to the business bottom line are equally convincing.

Majority of large corporations have adopted recycling. After all, they have many resources available to do this. Small businesses, on the other hand, have been somewhat reluctant due to apparent lack of resources and perceived high cost. While the will has always been strong among small business owners, many have been unable to make a commitment to recycling for these reasons. But as I will show below this does not have to be the case. Here are few compelling benefits recycling provides to businesses, large and small.

[Read more…]

Running a Successful Internet Cafe Business

Internet cafe
If you want to start your own business, perhaps you should consider the internet cafe sweepstakes business.  The internet cafe business has proven to be lucrative for number of people.  One reason for this is that everyone likes to do things that are fun and exciting and internet café provides just that. The internet sweepstakes business involves internet cafe games that are an engaging way for people to make money. These businesses provide opportunity for people to meet new people and bond.

[Read more…]

What to Look for in Security Provider for Your Business

What to look for in security provider for your business
Online security has received lot of attention lately as a result of NSA scandal and high profile hacking attempts at several large corporations. With the rise of internet and proliferation of computers in our daily lives it is imperative that businesses pay close attention to online security and protect their computer networks like a hawk. At the same time, it is also important to ensure your offline or physical security is in place to protect physical infrastructure from intruders and scammers. Failing to do so can result in theft and sabotage producing large financial loss for your business.

[Read more…]

Can Small Businesses Benefit from Outsourcing?

Outsourcing
Large corporations use outsourcing to offload their non-core operations so that they can focus on what they do best. Small and medium size businesses can benefit equally from outsourcing. Many small business owners do not feel comfortable with outsourcing thinking that it does not provide them sufficient benefits or they don’t like losing control of their business operations. This could be a mistake. When done properly, outsourcing can help small business owners grow by focusing on core operations.

[Read more…]

20 Work-life Balance Hacks for Small Business Owners

20 work life hacks for small business owners
Work-life balance is not something that is on top of mind for many entrepreneurs and small business owners. After all, when you have customers expecting immediate response, employees asking for help, vendors waiting for payments, all at the same time how can you even think about taking time off from work. Life can wait until you have established your business. Once you have put the business on the right path you can go back to enjoying the life, right? Wrong. Let’s face it. When you are running a small business will there ever be time when you will not need to take care of this?

[Read more…]

How to Pick Conflict Resolution Style to Your Advantage

How to Use Your Conflict Style Strategically to Gain Results
When you sense a conflict brewing in the business situation what do you do? Do you put your head down and focus on your own work to stay out of it? Do you play peacekeeper and attempt to help everyone just get along? Or do you add fuel to the fire?

According to the leading theories of conflict, there are five major “conflict styles,” or approaches we take to handling disagreements. Everyone uses one of these styles at one point or another, but most of us tend to stick to one or two styles in most situations. The style you are most comfortable with and use majority of time can have a big impact on the outcome. It can help you arrive at a solution to your advantage or make you suffer with unfavorable outcome. It is crucial to understand what style you are most comfortable with and develop alternate styles so you can respond appropriately in a given situation.

[Read more…]

How to Navigate Small Business during Financial Crisis

How to navigate during crisis
Warning to all budding entrepreneurs!! Almost 75% of small businesses fail during their first year. This number goes even higher during financial or environmental crisis. During Great Recession of 2008-2009 number of businesses, large and small, failed because they were not in the best position to manage during the time of crisis. They either did not have sufficient financial cushion or failed to generate enough sales to meet their expenses. The key to succeed in the crisis is to prepare for it ahead of time and take decisive actions once the crisis does hit. This is the time not to panic, and you will not, if you have planned ahead. If you do run into financial turbulence here are 3 important steps you can take to navigate through the crisis.

[Read more…]

Safety First! How to Safeguard Your Building against Fire

Fire Safety
Fire safety is usually not on top of mind for many business owners. After all, they have business to run and fire safety does not help them improve their sales or customer service. Most business owners probably include fire safety equipments as part of building construction and pretty much forget about it as they go about running their daily business. There is nothing wrong with focusing on your business first, however it should not be done at the expense of safety of your employees and yourself. There is a good reason why fire safety is taught to us from a very young age.

[Read more…]

5 Must Have Project Management Skills for Every Business Leader

5 must have project management skills
Project management is a must have skill for small business owners as well as managers and executives of large companies. Anyone can dream up new projects without much effort. Only those who can execute those projects stand to succeed in their endeavor. History is rife with examples of projects, large and small, that have either failed or overrun their time and budget because they were not managed well. The managers in charge of these projects did not possess and exhibit necessary skills required to take them to the finish line.

[Read more…]